Summary

With the power of the X-Drive, our heroines have been revived. But when Finé plays her trump card, will all three of them need to sing their Superb Song?

Plot

With their newfound power, Hibiki declares that with these Gears, born from their friends' song, there is no way they can lose to Finé now. That song was what gave Chris and Tsubasa the strength to stand once more, even though they had been killed before. Songs do more than give power to fight. They give life!

Finé simply notes that the high-level phonic gain is just like what happened two years ago. Chris telepathically responds by asking who gives a damn, letting Finé know that the X-Drive also grants telepathy. However, declaring that even with the limiters on their Gears released, they don't stand a chance, she uses Solomon's Cane to summon a group of Noise.

Chris says she has had enough of Finé's tricks, and Tsubasa asks Finé if she was the one who let the Noise loose on the world. Finé reveals that the Noise are autonomous weapons created by ancient mankind after the Curse of Balal stripped them of their common tongue for the purpose of slaughtering each other. While the Noise used to only escape from the Treasury of Babylon once every decade at the most, Finé has been making it happen constantly by using Solomon's Cane to effectively hold open that door. The Noise are simply a power source for her.

With that, Finé summons a truly massive horde of Noise, filling the streets of the city and the skies overhead with their numbers. Chris simply says she'll blast each and every one of them to pieces before flying off. Before Hibiki and Tsubasa join Chris, Hibiki takes a moment to apologize to Tsubasa for what she did under the influence of her berserker nature. Tsubasa says not to worry about it, because Hibiki listened when she called out to her, and came to her senses on her own. She should be proud of her own strength.

With that, the three of them start slaughtering the Noise. Hibiki quickly shows the power of the X-Drive by taking out several big ones with one attack, while Chris uses the laser beam version of her Mega Deth Party. Hibiki compliments Chris on her scatter-shot, causing Chris to say that she was aiming for each of them. Hibiki simply tells Chris to check out her scatter-shot, revealing that in her X-Drive, she can fire blasts of energy when she punches. Tsubasa flies above two large flying Noise and takes them out with a single Azure Flash.

Before long, all three of them have taken out most of the Noise. However, Finé then stabs herself with the Solomon's Cane, fusing with it and causing the remaining Noise to also fuse with her, then summoning even more Noise and having them fuse with her as well. As a final touch, she grabs the Durandal from the ruins of the Kadingir and fuses with it as well to form a massive enemy that has the power of three complete Relics.

Finé then fires a laser at the city before declaring that the three Symphogear users have invoked her wrath and had best be prepared for the consequences. She then fires on them, forcing them to evade. Chris tries to return fire with another Mega Deth Party, but Finé is able to easily block the attack and fires a similar attack that hits Chris. Tsubasa uses an Azure Flash, but the damage she causes is quickly regenerated. Same for the punch that Hibiki tries to use.

Finé says that even with the limiters on the Gears released, they're just toys made from the fragments of Relics. They can't hope to match the power of a complete Relic. Chris asks Tsubasa if she heard that, but Tsubasa says to keep it off the channel so Finé doesn't figure out their plan as well. Chris says they can do it, but Tsubasa implies that it will depend on Hibiki as well.

In the ruins of Lydian Private Music Academy, everyone is concerned, as Kuriyo asks if Hibiki will be all right. Genjuro compares Finé's current form to the red dragon of Revelations, and the woman of Babylon who was seen with it. In the legends, they were the harbinger of destruction.

Hibiki, in spite of not being certain what Tsubasa and Chris have planned, says that they can do it. With that, Tsubasa and Chris prepare to clear the way for Hibiki, with Tsubasa using Azure Flash: Destroyer to tear a hole in Finé's defenses. Before the wound can regenerate, Chris flies in through it and fires a Mega Deth Party that causes Finé to lower her defenses to outside threats, just in time for Tsubasa to use a second Azure Flash: Destroyer. Finé tries to use Asgard to block, but the attack does what Tsubasa and Chris had hoped it would do, knocking the Durandal out of Finé's hands.

As the Durandal flies towards Hibiki, Chris fires a couple of shots at it to propel it. Hibiki grabs it, but once again, the massive power in it causes her to start to go berserk, causing her X-Drive to take on a demonic appearance.

Sakuya notes that it's looking bad, but in spite of the danger, Miku rushes to go outside. She declares that she wants to help Hibiki, so she doesn't fall into darkness again, and that she swore that she wouldn't just stand helplessly by while Hibiki fought for her, but that she would fight for Hibiki as well. This causes all of Hibiki's friends to follow Miku's example.

Outside, Hibiki is struggling to maintain control of herself. But with encouragement from her friends, she manages to regain control of her power, and with Tsubasa and Chris, she unleashes the attack Synchrogazer, destroying the giant Noise and causing more damage to Finé's body than even the Nehushtan Armor can regenerate.

Afterwards, as the people of the city leave the shelters, Hibiki helps Finé to a place where she can sit down, all while saying that she gets called a screwball quite often for acting like that. She then suggests to Finé that they simply end this here, refusing to call her anything but Ryōko and saying that she's sure they can still understand each other. Finé gets up, saying that the Noise were created by humans in ancient times. Rather than join hands in unity after losing their common tongue, they raised those hands in war. She feels that humans can never understand each other.

Finé then grabs one of the Nehushtan Armor's chains, and responds to Hibiki saying that words aren't the only thing that connect us together by lashing out with it. However, her target isn't any of the protagonists, but the small piece of the Moon that was broken off by the Kadingir's first shot. Declaring that she will be victorious, she pulls on that piece of the Moon, setting it on an unstoppable descent towards the Earth. Even though her body will die, she will have managed to kill her enemies, and her soul will live on, reborn the next time one of her descendants hears an Aufwachen reaction.

Hibiki simply responds by giving Finé a tap on the chest and asking her to pass on a message when she is revived: You don't need strength to unite the world. We can become one, beyond the limits of words! Even in the future, we can join our hands in unity! Hibiki won't be there to tell them herself, but Ryōko can. Upon hearing this, Finé realizes what Hibiki is planning. Hibiki says that before she can entrust the world to Ryōko, she must protect the present. Finé's eyes and voice change back to those of Ryōko Sakurai as she says that Hibiki really is a hopeless child before poking her in the chest and telling her to believe in the song of her heart just before her body turns to stone and disintegrates.

Sakuya says that they have calculated the trajectory of the Lunar fragment, and impact is unavoidable. Hibiki walks forward, and when Miku says her name, she says she'll stop it somehow. With a smile, she says she'll be right back, and and passes along the message that Kanade once said to her: Don't give up living!

With no more words that can be said, Hibiki takes flight, and as she clears the atmosphere, she sings her superb song while Miku cries, knowing that her best friend is about to sacrifice herself.. However, Hibiki then hears Chris telepathically ask if she wants to be the hero that badly, followed by Tsubasa saying she never thought she'd hear Hibiki sing her own elegy with such conviction. As usual, Hibiki always manages to surprise Tsubasa.

Chris then says that this is just the right time to sing a whole lifetime's worth of songs. With that, the three take flight towards the Lunar fragment. Tsubasa telepathically says that she wanted to be able to sing more with Hibiki and Chris. Hibiki apologizes, only for Chris to shove her, saying that this isn't the time for that. Hibiki thanks both of her friends, and they increase their speed until they're going at full throttle.

On their way, Chris thinks to herself that she knows that not all dreams can be fulfilled. But everyone must treasure the future, so that their dreams still get a chance. Tsubasa thinks that life isn't over when it burns out, because you leave something behind for future generations to come, just as Kanade left her Gungnir to Hibiki. That's how the world works, and that's why there's still meaning to a sword protecting others. Hibiki thinks that even if her voice goes hoarse, the song of her heart will never be silenced! The sound of the bell ringing at the first light of dawn...she wants it to echo all the way into the future! This is their superb song!

At the Lunar fragment, they prepare to do what must be done. Tsubasa prepares an Azure Flash that's at keast as tall as a house. Chris prepares a Mega Deth Quartet using a massive number of missiles. And Hibiki prepares to smash her full power into the Lunar fragment. They unleash their attacks, and the Lunar fragment is turned into shooting stars.

Down on Earth, Miku sees the shooting stars and falls to her knees, crying at her friends' sacrifice. We then see the cold open from Episode 1 again, as Miku narrates that three weeks later the search was called off. Genjuro said the three won't be considered missing in action, but dead. There is a grave for Hibiki, but she's not in it. Due to the details being classified, the grave doesn't even have her name on it. This was supposedly done to avoid further questions from abroad, but Miku doesn't really understand the details. She does know one thing, however: As long as the photo she gave Genjuro is still there, to her, it will always be Hibiki's grave. It's a lonely grave, but she's still following the path that Hibiki's miracle showed them.

While Miku is crying in front of HIbiki's grave, she hears a scream and a woman calling for help. The woman's car had hit a lamppost, and there are Noise advancing towards her. Miku grabs the woman's wrist and does her best to lead her away from the Noise. She won't give up, because Hibiki wouldn't give up either! However, the woman collapses, saying she can't keep going. As the Noise start closing in, Miku prepares to use her own body to shield the woman.

Just then, all of the Noise are blown away! Surprised, Miku turns to see the three Symphogear users, alive and well! Hibiki apologizes, because everything was confidential, she couldn't make contact. She had to keep secrets from Miku again. Miku doesn't mind, as she is more focused on running towards Hibiki so she can give her friend a hug!

The episode ends with Miku and Hibiki going to watch the shooting stars at long last as Miku narrates that the Noise keep appearing, and people keep fighting them. The threat is as great as ever, and there is no sign that the chain of suffering will end. But they don't lose heart, and they don't give up. Because... This world has songs!

Songs Used

Image Gallery

Trivia

While at first glance, it looks like Hibiki didn't bleed from the mouth after singing her superb song, during the few seconds of their attack on the Lunar fragment, it is shown that Hibiki was indeed bleeding from the mouth.